National Blog

This Week in Congress

The House has canceled all votes for the week because of the funeral of President George H.W. Bush. They will be passing a one-week continuing resolution to keep the government open while they work on finalizing the spending bills for the year. The big sticking point is funding for President Trump’s proposed border wall. I doubt that whatever deal is voted on is likely to decrease spending.

As of this writing, it is unclear when the Senate will debate and vote on S.Res. 54which ends the U.S. involvement in Yemen. Campaign for Liberty members should call their Senators and tell them to vote for S.Res. 54.

In addition to the spending bill and farm bill, the Senate will consider nominations. One nomination that will be up is Kathleen Kiraninger as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. You can read more about Krainiger and efforts from the CFPB here and here.

In addition to the spending bill, Congress is also expected to debate the farm bill conference report. The bill does not contain the SNAP (food stamps) work requirements but does contain the House version of the bill. It also increases subsidies. It also allows nephews and nieces of farmers to receive subsidies if they participate in “activemanagement” of the farm, even if they never actually do any real farming. So if you discussed farming with your far uncle or aunt, you can get a check. The bill also does nothing to limit subsidies to wealthy farmers. In fact, it makes it easier for farmers to game the system for the maximum amount of subsides.

One good thing in the bill is it legalizes the use of hemp, a cause long championed by Ron Paul and Campaign for Liberty.

Here is a good article on the Farm bill from Daren Basket of the Heritage Foundation.